Raptors vs. Wizards final score, NBA playoffs 2015: Washington completes sweep with 125-94 Game 4 win

For a series featuring No. 4 and 5 seeds, it never really felt that close. The tone was set early as Washington rolled to a 93-86 overtime win in Game 1, then followed it up with a lopsided 117-106 victory in Game 2.

Toronto never quite found its footing after stumbling during the second half of the regular season, a trend that peaked with a brutal effort Sunday night. With the season on the line at the Verizon Center, the Raptors got behind quickly and fell into a lull as the deficit grew.

The Wizards led 36-22 after the first quarter, and extended that lead to as many as 20 before heading into halftime up, 66-50. By the end of the third quarter, Washington had pulled ahead, 102-70, and the series was effectively over.

That’s because the Wizards had their mismatches, and Wall was there to pick them apart. The All-Star point guard averaged 17.3 points and 12.5 assists in 38 minutes per game, looking every bit like the franchise player Washington envisioned when signing him to a max contract.

Now the Wizards are heading to the second round for the second straight year, and the arrow is clearly pointing upwards. A trip to the Eastern Conference Finals and beyond still isn’t out of the question, not after the team just rolled off four straight impressive wins.

1. The Wizards aren’t kidding around
Washington was a hard team to gauge entering the playoffs after an up-and-down season, but it appears the team is hitting its stride at the right time. The Wizards controlled the whole series against the Raptors, and with the Hawks having issues against the Nets, it’s starting to seem possible Washington could make a run beyond the second round. Wall is truly a great point guard, Gortat is doing work in the middle, and Pierce is proving to be the veteran leader that wasn’t around a year ago. After rolling over Toronto in the first round, we may need to recalibrate our expectations for Washington.

2. This was a total collapse by Toronto
As much as the Wizards did to win this series, the Raptors did an awful lot to throw it away. Many of the team’s key contributors were quiet throughout the series, and in Game 4, the team seemed to give up after getting behind early on. There’s just no excuse to being down 32 points after three quarters in a must-win game, yet the Raptors found themselves sleepwalking into their offseason with one of the worst performances of the playoffs. Getting swept by a lower seeded team is bad enough, but the way the Raptors lost some of these games had to be discouraging for a fan base that had so cheerfully gotten behind the team in recent years. Toronto needs to go back to the drawing board this summer and figure out what’s next.

There were several Raptors who failed to step up in this series, but none of them stood out as much (or as little) as Ross. The Raptors owe a lot to the young winger for his emergence as a steady wing over the past couple years, but he didn’t live up to expectations in this series. Ross finished Game 4 with three points on 1-of-3 shooting over 30 minutes, and spent large parts of the game going unnoticed. The Raptors needed Ross to step up and at least be a steady shooter and defender for them in this series, but instead he delivered per-game averages of seven points, one assist and one rebound. He recorded nearly as many fouls (10) as field goals made (11), which is a simple way of saying he wasn’t helping.